C 231 
P33 
opy 1 



No. 85 



Health, Education, Recreation 



EVENING 
RECREATION CENTERS 



BY 

CLARENCE ARTHUR PERRY 

DEPARTMENT OF CHIIJ5 HYGIENE, RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 




Published by the 

Department of Child Hygiene of the 

Russell Sage Foundation 

400 Metropolitan Tower, New York City 



MonofrapK 



31-1-25 



COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY CHARITIES PUBLICATION COMMITTEE 



Some of the Pamphlets that can be Furnished 

by the Department of Child Hygiene of 

the Russell Sage Foundation 

400 Metropolitan Tower, New York City 



Folk Dancing 

28. Folk and National Dances. Luther H. Gulick, M.D. 
35. Report of the Committee on Folk Dancing. Miss Elizabeth 
Burchenal. 

86. Organized Athletics, Games and Folk Dancing. Clarence A. 

Perry. 

Recreation 

67. Popular Recreation and Public Morality. Luther H. Gulick, 
M.D. 

84. The Exploitation of Pleasure: A Study of Commercial Re- 
creation. Michael M. Davis, Jr., Ph.D. 

87. Recreation the Basis of Association Between Parents and 

Teachers. Clarence A. Perry. 

Athletics 

50. Inter-High School Athletics. Earl Cline. 

63. The Law of Amateurism. Clark W. Hetherington. 
72. Athletics in the Public Schools. Lee F. Hanmer. 

Use of School Buildings 

51. The Wider Use of the ScHOpL Plant. Clarence A. Perry. 

52. Public Lectures in School* Buildings. Clarence A. Perry. 
83. The Community-Used SChoolhouse. Clarence A. Perry. 









v^>^ 



EVENING RECREATION 
CENTERS* 

By clarence ARTHUR PERRY 

ACROSS the deserted spaces of Tompkins 
l\ Square Park ^ January storm was sweep- 
■^ *■ ing. The benches were empty; the iron 
play apparatus stood stark and useless within its 
enclosure while, farther on, the chutes, swings and 
sand-heaps furnished sport only to the chilling night 
winds. A few persons, tight-buttoned and shiver- 
ing, were moving rapidly along the asphalt walks. 
One passer-by, however, struck by the sharp con- 
trast between this scene and the one which had 
greeted his eyes during a former visit to New York 
in the month of July, stopped and looked about. 

Then the benches had been filled with tired men 
smoking their evening pipes and women watching 
their babies in nearby go-carts, while in the less 
illuminated spots young couples were engaged in 
conversation. On the playgrounds noisy, happy 
children were climbing and swinging, or digging 
in the sand. The grass-plots were occupied by 
groups of tiny toddlers attended by older sisters 
and, here and there, an exhausted laborer lay 
stretched out on a newspaper fast asleep. It 
had seemed on that warm night as if the bursting 

*This pamphlet is a reprint of Chapter VI 1 1 of the "The Wider 
Use of the School Plant," by Clarence Arthur Perry. 

3 



tenements which hemmed in the park had over- 
flowed, depositing their cramped and perspiring 
inmates upon its hospitable sward. 

As now the traveler started down East Ninth 
Street he wondered how that surplus humanity 
was stowing itself when the summer annex to its 
living abode was no longer habitable. The tene- 
ments were no larger and their occupants no fewer 
than they had been in July. Where could the 
boys and girls of these homes find space for recrea- 
tion on a winter's evening? This question, made 
all the more insistent by the sight of narrow build- 
ings, small windows, ugly fire-escapes and gar- 
bage receptacles — placed in front because there 
was no driveway to the wretched court in the 
rear — was still pressing for an answer when his 
attention was attracted by a five-storied edifice of 
brick and stone whose dignified architecture con- 
trasted strangely with the surrounding squalor. 
The two end wings of the building came out to the 
sidewalk and were connected by a high brick wall 
that was surmounted by an ornamental stone cop- 
ing. In the middle of this wall was a wide gateway 
approached by several steps leading up from the 
sidewalk, through which could be seen a small 
courtyard and the central part of the building. The 
ground floor and the one above it were brilliantly 
lighted. Some boys came running up the steps 
and passed on towards the main entrance. The 
building was plainly a school house, but these lads 
did not have the appearance of evening pupils 

4 



and so, driven by curiosity, the passing stranger 
followed them inside. 

The entrance room, pleasantly warmed by 
steam radiators, appeared to be as wide as the 
building, but though entirely devoid of furniture 
the effect of its natural spaciousness was lessened 
by heavy pillars which supported the upper 
stories and broke up the vast concrete floor into 
more or less distinct sections every one of which 
was now occupied by an animated group of boys. 
Immediately in front a number of youths standing 
in a circle were passing a ball as large as a pump- 
kin, back and forth, while a lad in the center 
attempted to intercept it. Just beyond, a pre- 
occupied group were engaged in a game of shuffle- 
board. Over on the right a dozen boys took 
turns at tossing rings of rope, each aiming to pitch 
his quoit over the point of a stake which hung in a 
frame at the middle so that it oscillated back and 
forth. Nearby was a quartette of youngsters 
with toy racquets playing ping-pong around a 
long table. 

A room on the right was equipped as a gymna- 
sium. At one end two lines of eager little fellows 
stood waiting their turns to participate in the 
lively potato race then in progress. To give the 
event novelty the clean, well set-up young man in 
jersey and "gym" trousers, who was conducting 
it, had each pair of starters lie face up on a mat at 
the head of the lane through which they were to 
run. When he cried "Go!" they sprang to their 

5 



feet and darted for the potatoes with the greatest 
agility. The contestant who first finished gather- 
ing his vegetables into the waste-basket set at the 
starting-place made a score for his side which was 
chalked on the floor amidst the lusty cheers of his 
co-players. Across the room was a line of older 
boys following their leader in a series of "stunts "on 
the horizontal bar while at the farther end others 
amused themselves vaulting over a buck or swing- 
ing on the flying rings. "At seven-thirty, when 
the boys first come in," explained the teacher, 
"they are allowed a few minutes of free play. 
Then we put them through a stiff setting-up 
drill. All-round development is our aim." 

The visitor was next conducted through the 
main hall to a more brilliantly lighted room in the 
rear which was comfortably filled with groups of 
boys sitting round small stands and tables. Some 
were playing checkers while others were deep in 
the intricacies of chess; parchesi, authors, geo- 
graphical and historical card games were also in 
use, and so intent were most of the players that 
few noticed the presence of spectators. This was 
called the "quiet-games room." In the farther 
end was a long table at which sat a number of 
youths poring over magazines and newspapers. 
Nearby a businesslike young man was recording 
and giving out books to some eager lads standing 
in a line which was being constantly replenished 
by those who had made their selections from 
the shelves. One carried off "Robinson Crusoe" 

6 



while the next received "The Boys of '76." 
"Treasure Island" was obtained by a third, and 
a youth of more serious mien asked for a book that 
would help him prepare for the Civil Service ex- 
aminations. The books formed one of the travel- 
ing libraries which belong to the New York Public 
Library and were changed at regular intervals. 

The left wing of the building contained an im- 
mense room similar in appearance to its counter- 
part but entirely without apparatus or mats. 
Except for ten active fellows in jerseys, short 
pants and rubber-soled shoes, and a man with a 
whistle, its floor was clear of persons up to the 
fringe of spectators, one or two rows deep, that 
lined its edges. High up on the end walls were 
the familiar iron hoops and twine nets which con- 
stitute the narrow goals of basket ball. At that 
moment the rush of the players was halted by the 
shrill whistle of the referee and a curly-headed 
youth was given the ball to make a "try" for the 
goal because of a "foul" committed by the other 
team. The ball struck the hoop, circled around 
it and finally dropped through the trailing net. 
Thereupon the crowd in the opposite corner emit- 
ted a deafening outburst of cries, cat-calls and 
applause. "Those are the Wingate rooters," re- 
marked the principal. "That point ties the score." 

"And who might the Wingates be?" asked the 
visitor. 

"One of our clubs. Their team is defending 
this goal while those representing the Saranac 

7 



Athletic Club have the other. You see all the 
fellows who come here are asked to join a club. 
We have now twenty-two of them. After these 
fellows get through, the Young America and 
the Roosevelt clubs will have a chance to play 
and meanwhile the Cosmos and the Levity clubs 
are having their turn in the gymnasium. By 
organizing the boys into societies we are able to 
arrange a schedule whereby everybody has an 
opportunity to enjoy systematically all of the 
privileges. My staff consists of two gymnasts, 
one game-room teacher, and one club director. 
There are 475 boys and young men in the build- 
ing this evening and the benefits they receive cost 
the taxpayers about four cents apiece." 

After ascending a flight of stairs visitor and 
guide passed down a long corridor and presently 
found themselves in an ordinary class room. The 
teacher's place was occupied by a young man with 
a gavel, while at his side sat the secretary writing 
in a blank book. Scattered about the room be- 
hind desks were a score of alert youths listening to 
the report of the arrangement committee con- 
cerning an "open meeting" of the society soon to 
be held. A card in the hands of one of the boys 
was labeled "Membership Card" and bore the 
owner's name, the number of the "evening recrea- 
tion center," a column for each of the nine months 
from October to June in which to note attendance, 
and these words: "Dreadnaught Literary and 
Athletic Society." On the back, above the names 

8 



of the principal and the club director, appeared 
the following legend: "Remember — that the suc- 
cess of your club depends upon your regular and 
prompt attendance. That membership entitles 
you to the Basket Ball and Athletic Privileges." 

Several other class rooms held similar clubs. 
Some were composed largely of one race, others 
included Italians, Hebrews, Hungarians and Poles 
as well as Irish and Yankees, all working har- 
moniously together. Their occupations were as 
varied as their features. Errand boys, factory 
hands, store clerks, stenographers and high school 
students mingled with "toughs," just plain boys, 
and Sunday school scholars. The members of the 
Whittier Society were hearing one of their number 
recite Lincoln's Gettysburg address, while the 
director of the Lowell Club was giving a lecture on 
the plays of Shakespeare. Across the hall the 
Princeton Pleasure Club, an athletic organization, 
was consistently realizing its nominal purpose in a 
vociferous and exciting election of officers. In the 
Hamilton Forum a debate upon the resolution 
"that immigration be further restricted" was 
in progress. The affirmative was being upheld 
by Messrs. Perkovitz and Gruenbaum, and their 
speeches showed a delightful unconsciousness of 
the possible effect upon their own fortunes which 
would have resulted from an earlier enactment of 
the proposals they were now urging with such 
noisy "patriotism." 

Each club met in this way once a week from 
9 



7-30 to 9.45, and on the other evenings (except 
Sundays) the members were at liberty to come 
for games and gymnastic exercises. While the 
greater number of the clubs had been formed at the 
outset for athletic purposes, nearly all had grad- 
ually developed into literary and debating societies 
and a few were so energetic that they had obtained 
" the use of class rooms for a meeting place during the 
summer evenings when the other privileges of the 
center were not available. One of the functions 
of the club director was to organize new societies 
and for this purpose the game rooms downstairs 
served as recruiting grounds. 

A part of the building somewhat removed from 
the group of class rooms used by the clubs con- 
tained the study room. The boys in the other 
departments had all been fourteen or over, no 
pupils of the elementary schools being allowed to 
become members of the clubs or enter the game 
rooms if it could be helped. This room, however, 
was used exclusively for day-school children 
and was nearly filled with boys, all sitting at 
desks, with books open before them, sometimes 
two in the same seat. Some were writing, some 
were talking in low tones with their neighbors, and 
others were quietly studying. A woman teacher 
with an intelligent face and kindly manner moved 
quietly about the room, now and then saying a 
few words in response to an appeal from a pupil, 
and giving the kind of counsel that stimulated 
rather than replaced effort. The children came 

10 



simply to study in quiet surroundings the lessons 
assigned to them in the day schools. It was en- 
tirely voluntary on their part, and the privilege 
was given only to those who had attained the 
fourth grade, at which time home-work begins to 
be required. Before admission each one was 
obliged to present a card signed by his principal, 
containing his name, age, address, school, grade 
and the subjects needing study. To be admitted, 
children had also to bring their books. The room 
was not open Friday, Saturday or Sunday eve- 
nings. "We have an average of about sixty-five 
boys every evening and some of them have told 
me that since coming here they have received 
'A's' on their reports for the first time in their 
lives," the principal explained. 

After expressing his appreciation of the things he 
had seen the visitor registered his name and passed 
out into the night. The wind had died down, but 
it was still bitterly cold. The street was dark and 
empty. At the gateway he looked back at the 
light streaming from the school house windows, and 
then went on his way. 

THE NEW YORK CENTERS 

During the season 1909-10, thirty-one evening 
recreation centers were maintained by the Board 
of Education in the boroughs of Manhattan, the 
Bronx and Brooklyn. With the exception of five 
they were open six nights a week from October 
to April. The use of these five was continued two 

1 1 



evenings a week until the beginning of June. The 
aggregate attendance for the season reached 
2,165,457, making a nightly average of 12,985 for 
all thirty-one centers. Study rooms were avail- 
able at twenty-seven of the centers, bathing 
facilities at twenty-four, and the staff of principals, 
teachers, gymnasts and other employes numbered 
nearly 200. One-third of the school buildings de- 
voted to this enterprise were for the entertain- 
ment of women and girls only, and they enjoyed 
the same opportunities as their brothers except 
that the gymnasium was more often used for folk 
dancing than for athletics, though games of basket 
ball and wand drills were occasionally held. 

For most of the men and boys the gymnasium is 
the principal attraction, with its exercises on the 
mat and on parallel and horizontal bars; though 
in large centers, like that at Public School No. 188 
on East Third Street, basket ball, indoor baseball 
and track sports are also very popular. Policemen 
and firemen are frequently found wrestling at the 
High School of Commerce, while in another center 
there is a special "gym" class for deaf mutes. 
For several years athletic tournaments have been 
held, the fmal contests taking place in one of the 
large armories. One winter a local newspaper 
offered medals for boys and pins for girls as prizes 
in a series of basket ball games and athletic sports. 
Immediately the best players were organized into 
midget, middle and heavy-weight teams and the 
inter-center contests began. During the pre- 

12 



liminaries fifty athletic meets and 250 games of 
basket ball were played, each successive event 
heightening the general enthusiasm. The finals 
took place in the Twelfth Regiment Armory before 
a large audience which cheered to the echo the 
winners as they received their prizes at the hands 
of a representative of the newspaper that donated 
them, and of the wife of the president of the Board 
of Education. During the annual meet of 1909 
there were from one to three entries from each 
boys' center in every contest and it was reported 
that "no more enthusiastic audience ever filled 
the vast building." 

That year the total number of active clubs was 
575, and while their names indicate a predominant, 
initial interest in some one field such as literature, 
debate, athletics, civics, the drama, or glee and 
orchestral music, the regulations under which they 
are organized induce uniformity and these dis- 
tinctions are tending to disappear. Except for a 
few adult clubs devoted to civics or purely social 
diversions they are all scheduled for periods of 
gymnastic training, athletic sports and quiet 
games. Each club is also required to hold a 
weekly business meeting under the supervision of 
the club director, and to possess some knowledge 
of hygiene, civics and American history. 

The variety of instruction given in these clubs 
is well shown in the following extract from the 
1906 report of Miss Evangeline E. Whitney, who 
had charge of the recreation centers during the 

13 



period of their remarkable growth, namely from 
1902 till her death in January, 1910. "The 
range of books read in the clubs extends from fairy 
tales and historic stories to Ruskin and Ibsen. 
We have scores of young men and women who 
critically study economics and Shakespeare; and 
many that make but slow mental advancement. 
In the latter class the teachers prepare illustrated 
talks on nature, the dress of different countries, 
their implements of industry and of war; tell 
thrilling stories of adventure; introduce topics of 
public interest and thus lead them into debates 
which send them to the library for information. 
One teacher who had several clubs of bright office 
boys could not get them to undertake any literary 
work until he stimulated their ambition by re- 
citing selections learned in his own youth. The 
effect of his fine elocution brought the desired 
results, and essays, orations and debates were soon 
forthcoming. One night he recited 'King Robert 
of Sicily.' After he had finished there was a 
moment of tense silence, then a boy got to his feet 
and thus addressed the club: 'Fellows, I don't 
care what some people say, we've got to believe 
that there's a God in Heaven. Yes, fellows, there's 
a God in Heaven all right, and He's watching 
us and keeping tab on everything we do, and 
you can't bluff Him, or get away from Him; 
so, fellows, it's up to us to make good, that's 
all.' . . . Instruction has been given, by 
means of improvised dialogues, on how to make 

H 



proper applications for positions in various offices 
or business houses, how to perform successfully 
the duties of a toastmaster, and to formulate 
terse after-dinner speeches. Rules of etiquette, 
correct phraseology, and many subjects of kindred 
nature have emphasized the importance of ob- 
serving the gracious forms of social life." 

One of the more ambitious clubs composed of 
ex-high school boys took for its weekly discussions 
such subjects as "a comparative study of the 
drama of the Greeks, Romans, early and modern 
English, German and French." The Alcott Club 
of a girls' center in the heart of the East Side, dur- 
ing the past winter gave a dramatization of two 
scenes from "Little Women" for which a stage 
was formed by curtaining off one end of the capa- 
cious game room, and use was made of "proper- 
ties" brought from the members' homes. In one 
or two other centers, playlets and comediettas 
have also been given. The practice of public 
speaking is encouraged by declamation contests 
and debates. One year, teams from various cen- 
ters met in twenty-five discussions of live topics, 
and upon the conclusion of the final debates ebony 
and gold-mounted gavels were presented by a 
newspaper to the winning clubs, one to the young 
men and the other to the young women. The 
same paper also gave handsome medals to the 
two who received highest honors in a declamation 
contest held that season. 

An attractive little paper containing prize 
15 



stories and gossipy notes from neighboring clubs 
is published by the Gavel Club of Public School 
172, and the Irving Literary Society of No. 188 
has started a publication of similar character 
called the Observer. Among the other activities 
common among the clubs may be mentioned con- 
certs and literary entertainments to which the 
members invite guests, banquets given in honor 
of their instructors, and occasional balls given by 
those groups which have some social strength. 
One of the East Side girls' clubs acts as an auxiliary 
to the Ambulance Service Society connected with 
a nearby hospital, and it is a common thing for 
clubs to apply the money raised at social functions 
to the needs of ill or unfortunate comrades. 

At Evening Recreation Center No. 188 the 
Lassie and Travelers' clubs were allowed to ask 
their young men friends one Wednesday evening 
to attend a dance. The behavior of the couples 
was so satisfactory and the occasion so enjoyable 
that a series of weekly dances was planned. The 
principals of two neighboring centers recommended 
a number of gentlemanly boys who with the girls' 
clubs mentioned formed a dancing class. An 
executive committee of five boys, and an equal 
number of girls was appointed to pass upon the 
names of proposed members, who had to be well 
endorsed before they could be presented. The 
dues were five cents a week payable by the mem- 
bers of both sexes and the funds thus raised not 
only met the expense of providing a violinist and 

16 



As the author receives no royalties and the Department of 
Child Hygiene makes no profit on the sale of this book we do 
not hesitate to use this method to help put copies into the 
hands of persons who we think ought to read it. 



Order Form 



191 



Charities Publication Committee 
105 East lid Street, 

New York City, N. Y. 

Gentlemen: 

Enclosed with this find |. . . . . for which please 

send me . . . , copies of Wider Use of the School 

Plant, by Perry, at I1.25 each, postpaid. 



Name 

Street, Number 
City, State 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



I. THE WIDER USE. 

II. EVENING SCHOOLS. 

III. EVENING SCHOOLS ABROAD. 

IV. THE PROMOTION OF ATTENDANCE AT EVENING SCHOOLS. 
V. VACATION SCHOOLS. 

VI. SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS. 

VII. PUBLIC LECTURES AND ENTERTAINMENTS. 

VIII. EVENING RECREATION CENTERS. 

IX. SOCIAL CENTERS. 

X. ORGANIZED ATHLETICS, GAMES AND FOLK DANCING. 

XI. MEETINGS IN SCHOOL HOUSES. 

XII. SOCIAL BETTERMENT THROUGH WIDER USE. 



of waxing the floor, but left a surplus large enough 
to afford the members additional enjoyment 
through entertainments and outings. At these 
weekly reunions members of the center staff gave 
instruction not only in the regular waltz, two-step 
and lanciers but also in folk dancing. Strict 
supervision was exercised and young people seen 
dancing in an objectionable manner were cau- 
tioned and shown a more decorous way. 

During the season of 1909-10 there were six 
centers where mixed dancing classes were held, 
several of them becoming so popular that waiting- 
lists were made up of applicants who could not 
be accommodated on account of the restricted 
space. Dr. Edward W. Stitt, who has succeeded 
Miss Whitney in the charge of the centers, relates 
that on the evening of St. Patrick's Day he visited 
an East Side dancing class and found 150 young 
people enjoying themselves in a wholesome man- 
ner, while in a notorious dance hall across the way, 
both larger and easier of access, there were only 
thirty on the floor. 

So remarkable an innovation as social dances 
maintained in public school buildings and or- 
ganized by employes of the Board of Education 
was not made without some preliminary experi- 
menting. For several years there had been social 
occasions when the girls assumed the role of hostess 
and entertained boys of known character and 
proved gentlemanliness. Musical entertainments, 
amateur theatricals, athletic exhibitions by the 

17 



boys, checker contests and other table games were 
the chief amusements at these assembHes. Danc- 
ing was enjoyed occasionally, but it was the folk 
dances and others that contained the game spirit 
rather than the waltz or two-step which were 
indulged in. As these social affairs progressed 
their effects became noticeable. One principal 
wrote: "We have watched many of our girls 
change from the silly attitude toward the boys to 
that of practical indifference, or open, frank com- 
radeship, and have seen the boys, who at first 
came in untidy of dress and unclean of person, 
appearing with clean linen and hands, tidy clothes 
and freshly shaven faces." 

The beneficial results of the club activities show 
themselves in unexpected directions. A civic 
organization composed of forty young men and 
women resolved to work all summer for cleaner 
streets in the neighborhood of school and home. 
Several years ago a club of boys was formed with 
the purpose of working "for the betterment of 
the Italian race in America." With a roll of over 
200, meeting weekly in hired rooms for mutual 
improvement, and with many charter members 
returning monthly to their former director for 
counsel, this club has grown to be a civic force of 
incalculable influence. One of its early regulations 
made attendance at evening school obligatory 
upon the members, and so close is the connection 
between education and the work of the recreation 
center that the latter has come to be regarded, to a 

18 



certain extent, as a recruiting ground for the public 
night schools. 

Concerning the aid afforded by these play centers 
to the social assimilation of the large masses of 
foreigners in our population, Mrs. Humphry Ward 
has contributed some interesting testimony. At 
a banquet given her by the Playground Associa- 
tion of America, she thus describes a visit to 
one of the centers: "We found a thousand girls, 
divided in the same way between active physical 
exercise and club meetings (by the way, while 
one of the boys' clubs was debating Mr. Bryce's 
American Commonwealth, the girls were discuss- 
ing Silas Marner) ; and, in the third, perhaps most 
remarkable of all, five hundred girls were gathered 
debating whether you should retain the Philippine 
Islands, with a vigor, a fluency, a command of pa- 
triotic language and feeling which struck me with 
amazement. Here were girls, some of whom could 
only have arrived in your country a year or two 
ago, and all of them the children of aliens, ap- 
pealing to your Anglo-Saxon forefathers, and 
talking of your Revolutionary War and the 
Monroe Doctrine, of liberty and self-government, 
with an intensity of personal appropriation such 
as no mere school teaching could have pro- 
duced. It was as though I was in the presence 
of those children whom you will remember in 
the story of the Pied Piper — the children whom 
the Pied Piper led to the mountain, which 
opened and closed upon them again, entomb- 

19 



ing a whole generation. Browning had heard 
vaguely that somehow and somewhere they re- 
emerged. And here they are! The parents have 
been entombed and imprisoned for generations. 
But their children are now free— they are in sun- 
shine. Hence, this energy, this astonishing sense 
of power and life." 

Miss Whitney's annual reports to the city 
superintendent record many instances of striking 
changes in the character of the young men who 
have patronized the centers. "Last fall, a noted 
'tough' of nineteen years strolled into a center for 
the declared purpose of 'clearing the place out.' 
He discovered that a few determined athletes had 
something to say about that, and subsided into 
a quiet observer of the evening's sports. The 
principal noticed that he became a regular at- 
tendant, and invited him to join a club. He did 
so, and was told about the study room — the 
longed-for oasis in his desert life. Earnestly he 
applied himself to take a civil service examination, 
and when the term closed in May, he was ac- 
ceptably filling the position of a junior clerk in one 
of our city departments."* The following inci- 
dent selected out of " scores of incidents " that came 
to her notice demonstrates clearly Miss Whitney's 
belief that no matter how bad a young man may 
be, the acquisition of "the athlete's code of honor 
is a triumph over lawlessness, the beginning of 
a citizen's conception of duty." "One club of 

* Report of the City Supt. of Schools. New York, 1906, page 364. 
20 



street loafers organized last winter," she wrote, 
"seemed as unpromising as any we ever attempted 
to reform. The leader, a swaggering, unclean 
fellow, fortunately had 'the vulnerable heel.' 
He began to observe expert performances, then 
to obey instructions, until pride and skill were so 
developed that by the end of the season he out- 
ranked all the athletes in his center and made his 
club equal with the best."* 

That the benefits to character are not confined 
to the male sex alone is shown by the following 
statement in her report of 1908: "One of the 
marked instances of the year was the rescue of 
what the police designated 'one of the worst gangs 
of girls on the East Side.' In the club of twenty 
young women, now tamed and decent, one would 
not recognize the hoydens of a few months ago." 

Considering the important part played by ath- 
letics it is not surprising that gymnasts should be 
favored when selecting workers for these centers. 
The ability to secure immediate respect from street 
boys gives a leverage not possessed by women, 
though many of the latter have been highly suc- 
cessful. It has been found that altruism is a prime 
qualification for the principalship and herein lies 
the usual secret of the woman worker's power. 
The degree to which the work has been organized 
is illustrated by the fact that weekly and monthly 
reports are regularly sent to the superintendent's 
office covering the attendance, contests, debates, 

* Report of the City Supt. of Schools, 1909, page 551. 
21 



books read and activities in general. In the study 
rooms the teachers use a card-system, reference to 
which tells them just the kind of assistance each 
pupil needs. 

The centers as a whole are administered by a 
corps having the usual grades of superintendent, 
inspector, supervisor, principal and teacher, but 
in spite of the uniformity to be expected from so 
much system and so large an organization, each 
center has individuality, due to the character of 
the building, the personnel of the staff, and the 
kinds of people who frequent it. 

Inspectors begin with a salary of ^i 500 which in 
six years is automatically raised to $1750, the other 
employes being paid as follows: 

Recreation Center Salaries 



Supervisors 
Principals 
Teachers 

Assistant Teachers 
Teachers of swimming 
Librarians . 
Pianists 



?6.oo per day 
4.00 per session 
2.50 



1-75 
2.00 
2.50 
2.00 



In 1909 the expense of the thirty-one centers in 
New York was $79,565.74, which with a daily 
average of 12,084 persons cost the taxpayers 
$6.58 for each participant in the season of fun and 
healthful enjoyment. 



BEGINNINGS IN OTHER CITIES 

For several years the Newark, New Jersey, 
Board of Education has maintained a recreation 

22 



center in one of its buildings that is open four 
evenings a week from 7.30 to 9.30, to both school 
children and older people. The privileges afforded 
are those of a gymnasium, reading and quiet- 
games room, and four people are employed to 
supervise and give instruction. In addition the 
gymnasiums of two other schools have been used 
during the evenings, while in several buildings 
classes in folk dancing have been open to the girl 
pupils immediately after the close of the afternoon 
session. The expense of this work during 1908-09 
amounted to ^1553.49. In Chicago during the 
1909-10 season two evening recreation centers 
were established under the charge of day-school 
principals, which, without the advantage of as- 
sembly rooms or gymnasiums, were nevertheless 
very successful. The wide corridors gave the 
boys space for basket ball and the girls gymnastic 
opportunities. There were study rooms for those 
who wished them, a double room for reading and 
single ones for choral singing, illustrated lectures 
on travel, and folk dancing. Volunteer workers 
assisted the principals in the conduct of these 
activities, which were carried on only two evenings 
a week. In other schools permission has been 
given to use the gymnasiums for basket ball and 
indoor baseball games upon the application of 
responsible persons and societies. 

In Philadelphia, Milwaukee and several other 
cities enterprises having similar features have been 
carried on, but since they are locally known as 

23 



"social centers" their description has been re- 
served for the following chapter. The gymnasium 
classes under trained teachers held in several of 
the Cincinnati buildings have already been men- 
tioned in the discussion of evening schools, but 
in addition voluntary organizations are allowed 
the use of four other buildings in which to conduct 
debating clubs and wholesome recreations for 
boys. In St. Louis, through the co-operation of 
the Public Library and the Board of Education, a 
reading room for young people is opened three 
nights a week in one of the public schools. 

The Playground and Social Service League of 
Newton, Massachusetts, maintained during the 
summer evenings of 1909 a quiet-games and 
reading room in the Bowen School, and in Port- 
land, Maine, a similar work is conducted by the 
Fraternity House social workers. In many cities 
undertakings of this sort go by the name of "boys' 
clubs" which are usually organized and supported 
by voluntary organizations or philanthropic in- 
dividuals. In Cleveland, the Daughters of the 
American Revolution have the use of one school 
building in which they conduct three juvenile 
clubs; Syracuse has two clubs which are sup- 
ported by public-spirited persons and directed by a 
former Y. M. C. A. man with a medical training. 
An illustration of the origin of such a club is 
found in Pittsburgh where the principal of the 
Oakland District School threw open several class 
rooms for evening study. While the attendance 

24 



was fairly good it did not come up to expectations, 
but meeting in that way developed a social co- 
hesiveness among the boys that, finally took the 
form of an organized club with pronounced ath- 
letic tendencies. Indeed "athletic" is the touch- 
stone of success in work with boys, and the skilful 
director not only lays emphasis upon physical 
training and organized sports, but, like the Buffalo 
worker in charge of the Evening Club of School 29 
which gave a "horseback fight" and bar-bell drill 
at the spring playground demonstration in Con- 
vention Hall, he sees to it that his boys are stimu- 
lated by frequent public exhibitions, 

LONDON EVENING PLAY CENTERS 

In thirteen of the London County Council 
schools, play centers open to boys and girls be- 
tween the ages of five and fourteen are maintained 
five evenings a week, from 5.30 to 7.30, and for 
an hour and a half on Saturday mornings. The 
occupations afl'orded comprise various kinds of 
handwork such as cobbling, woodwork, basket- 
work, painting, plasticine modeling, needlework 
and knitting. But work is not all, or even the 
main thing, at these places. In a quiet room 
draughts, halma, picture-lotto, puzzles, deck 
quoits, brick-building, fish ponds, and many other 
games are provided; toy-rooms contain dolls and 
teasets, bricks, engines, block puzzles and picture 
books for the little ones, while the toddlers 
amuse themselves in the "babies' room" which is 

25 



furnished with small chairs and light, low tables 
instead of with desks and seats. A library stands 
ready to supply story and picture-books. In the 
large, bright halls the older girls make merry 
singing "The Keys of Canterbury," "Mowing 
the Barley," or playing some of Mrs. Gomme's 
games, like "London Bridge" or "Here we come 
up the Green Grass." The exercises of the " Drill 
Classes" are interspersed with dances, and when 
the measures of Sir Roger, an Irish jig, or a Danish 
dance begin to sound through the room the hap- 
piness of rhythmic motion seizes little bodies 
which usually feel only fatigue and the shame 
of raggedness. For the boys there are calis- 
thenic drills and exercises upon the apparatus of 
the school gymnasium. Cricket during the sum- 
mer and football during the autumn and win- 
ter months are encouraged by play leaders, and 
many matches in these sports are held Saturday 
mornings on the school playgrounds. 

The use of the buildings, lighted and heated, is 
furnished by the London County Council, but the 
work is carried on by an Evening Play Centres 
Committee composed of twenty-two members, 
including representatives of the nobility, official- 
dom, the Church, and society. The organizer of 
the movement, Mrs. Humphry Ward, is the chair- 
man, honorary secretary, and treasurer of the 
committee, and it is from her report for 1909 that 
the following account of the organization of the 
work is taken : " Each centre is under the direction 

26 



of a paid superintendent, who is responsible to the 
Play Centres Committee, and is assisted by both 
paid and voluntary workers. . . . The chil- 
dren attached to each centre are chosen, in the first 
instance, by the teachers of the four or five schools, 
as the case may be, within easy reach of the centre, 
who are asked to make the need of the children 
their basis of choice. Each child attends a centre 
normally twice a week, but a third attendance is 
allowed for the library or quiet games, or for a lan- 
tern lecture, while in the case of children coming 
from neglected homes, or whose parents are obliged 
to be out at work until late in the evening, arrange- 
ments can be made for their attending the centre 
every evening. The evening is generally divided 
into two sessions of one hour each, attended by dif- 
ferent sets of children. At three centres, however, 
we work on a one-session time-table, only one set of 
children being admitted during the evening, but 
remaining for an hour and forty minutes. Each 
child, on joining a play centre, is registered and 
given a colored badge, which admits him to one of 
the two sessions on two nights in the week. Thus, 
a blue badge admits to the first session on Mondays 
and Thursdays, a yellow badge to the second ses- 
sion on Tuesdays and Fridays. Many of the 
Wednesday children attend as a rule on Saturday 
mornings; but Wednesday is a one-session eve- 
ning — that is to say, only one set of children is 
admitted, but they remain for an hour and a half, 
changing occupations at half-time. The centres 

27 



are open during forty weeks in the year, from 
September to July." The benefits of the centers 
now reach between 9,000 and 10,000 children; 
their maintenance depends upon the annual con- 
tribution of over $15,000, making the cost per 
child approximately $1.50 a year. 

Readers of " Robert Elsmere" will be interested 
to learn that this undertaking is an offshoot of 
that scheme of pioneer philanthropy in which the 
brave clergyman found the solution of his pain- 
ful problems, and which is foreshadowed in the 
following passage: "And sitting down again on a 
sand-hill overgrown with wild grasses and mats of 
sea-thistle, the poor pale reformer began to draw 
out the details of his scheme on its material side. 
Three floors of rooms brightly furnished, well lit 
and warmed; a large hall for the Sunday lectures, 
concerts, entertainments, and story telling; rooms 
for the boys' club; two rooms for women and 
girls, reached by a separate entrance; a library 
and reading room open to both sexes, well stored 
with books, and made beautiful by pictures; 
three or four smaller rooms to serve as committee 
rooms and for the purposes of the Naturalist Club 
which had been started in May on the Murewell 
plan; and, if possible, a gymnasium." 

This institution, then a vision in the mind of the 
author, received embodiment afterwards through 
her own efforts in a now well-known social settle- 
ment and became a starting-point for many new 
activities, of which that undertaken by the Evening 

28 



Play Centres Committee is but a single example. 
The origin of this enterprise can best be described 
in the words of its prime mover : " I n 1 897 the Pass- 
more Edwards Settlement, in Tavistock Place, 
started some evening classes and games, as a 
counter-attraction to the. life and loafing of the 
streets, for the children of the neighboring ele- 
mentary schools. These classes have now de- 
veloped into a large Children's Recreation School, 
or Play Centre, open five evenings in the week 
for an hour and a quarter, and from 10 to 
12.30 on Saturday mornings. . . . The suc- 
cess of this work led, in the winter of 1904, to the 
raising of a Fund and to the formation of a Com- 
mittee for the establishment of Evening Play Cen- 
tres in Council School buildings, in some of the 
poorest and most crowded parts of London." 

The aim of the Committee is to secure the per- 
manence of its work through its adoption by the 
public authorities, and to this end Mrs. Ward is 
working most ardently, expending her energies 
not only in personal championship, but also in 
documentary appeals, distinguished by literary 
charm and convincing facts. These are addressed 
to the London County Council and to the English 
public through the medium of The Times. The 
government school inspectors have already filed 
encouraging reports about the handicraft work in 
these classes, and although the party of economy 
in the Council still (January, 19 10) stands in the 
way of full support, the hopes of the Committee 

29 



have been raised by a small government grant 
recently made for light woodwork. 

THE MOVEMENT ELSEWHERE IN ENGLAND 

Upon this topic the 1909 report of the Evening 
Play Centres Committee contains the following: 
" But, in addition to the growth of our own centres, 
we have to report the spread of the movement out- 
side our Committee. Lord Iveagh has opened a 
centre in Dublin; the large play centre attached 
to the Jewish Free School in Whitechapel has been 
opened, and is working admirably; another centre 
has been organized by the governors of the Peo- 
ple's Palace, Stepney. For these centres we have 
been able to supply superintendents trained for 
a longer or shorter time under our Committee. 
Fresh proposals also are constantly being made to 
us." In support of the latter statement the re- 
port then tells of applications for assistance which 
had been received from Paddington, Berm.ondsey 
and Deptford. 

The Recreative Evening Classes Committee of 
Manchester, which is organized under the presi- 
dency of the Bishop of Manchester and includes 
the mayor and several titled personages among its 
vice-presidents, has a sub-division known as the 
Children's Happy Evening Section. This body 
has surrounded itself with a band of voluntary 
helpers who carry on weekly entertainments in 
school buildings and other suitable quarters for 
the benefit of the neighborhood children. The 

30 



season's program includes concerts, gramophone 
entertainments, competitions in singing and recit- 
ing, contests in draughts and skipping rope as well 
as battledore and shuttlecock, and other games. 
Football and cricket are played in the basements 
while in the quiet room the children amuse 
themselves with bead-laying, crayon drawing, 
and similar occupations. Three municipal schools 
were used during the season of 1908-09 at which 
the weekly attendance ran between 200 and 250. 

The Bradford Cinderella Club which has for its 
object " the feeding, clothing and entertainment of 
poor children," describes in its 1908-09 report a 
similar enterprise: "One of the most interesting 
departments of our work is the provision of 
'Treats,' consisting of tea and entertainment, to 
parties of poor children almost every Saturday 
during the winter months. During last winter 
we organized twenty-five of these treats to parties 
of 300 children in all the poorer quarters of the 
city, in schools which were kindly lent us for the 
purpose." They find that a "treat" for 300 
children costs between ^18 and ^19. 

As has been suggested already there are, in both 
America and England, undertakings not men- 
tioned in the present chapter which nevertheless 
provide recreation during the evening in school 
buildings. Their activities are predominantly 
social in character and they thus belong more 
properly under that title. The line of demarcation 
between the recreation and the social center is 

31 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • ] 

020 773 116 A 



difficult to draw, but the obvious necessity of 
some sort of classification, if they were to be dis- 
cussed separately, made an attempt at definition 
obligatory. For the purposes of this study, there- 
fore, a recreation center has been regarded as an 
institution providing chiefly those pleasurable 
activities wherein the enjoyment is always de- 
pendent upon the use of some article or apparatus, 
or involves physical exercise in accordance with 
certain rules or standards, and is little affected by 
personal distinctions. In the social center, on 
the other hand, the enjoyment is more contingent 
upon the mutual companionability of the indi- 
viduals participating, demands little or no ap- 
paratus and involves intellectual rather than 
physical performances. No existing institution, 
of course, provides activities wholly confined to 
either one of these classes, but usually one type has 
been sufficiently emphasized in excess of the other 
to furnish the basis of a working classification. 

References 

Ward, Mrs. Humphry: The Play-Time of the Poor. Reprinted 
from The Times. Smith, Elder and Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 
London. Pages 28. Price twopence. 1906. 
Evening Play Centres. Reprinted from The Times. Spottiswoode 

and Co., Ltd., New-Street Square, London. Pages 17. 
Annual Reports of the Evening Play Centres Committee, 25 
Grosvenor Place, S. W., London. 

Whitney, Evangeline E.: Annual Reports as District Superin- 
tendent in charge of Vacation Schools, Playgrounds and Eve- 
ning Recreation Centres, contained in the annual reports of the 
City Superintendent of Schools, New York City, from 1904-1909. 
Vacation Schools, Playgrounds, and Recreation Centres. Pro- 
ceedings of the National Education Association, 1904. 

See also the annual reports of the voluntary organizations men- 
tioned in the text, 

32 



■?S3 



/^?/ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 773 116 fl 



HoUingo: Corp. 



